What your Early Access adventure includes
ArcheAge Chronicles' announced Early Access build opens most of Diamond Shores plus Gylden Ruins and Astron Plains, with regional stories, bosses and dungeons alongside raids, exploration, housing, crafting and trading. Demo saves do not transfer, so returning players begin fresh with four classes and eight weapons; additional class genders and third weapons are planned for later updates.
Compare the demo with the playable regions
| Adventure | Playable scope |
|---|---|
| The ended Steam Next Fest demo | A small part of Diamond Shores, roughly two to three hours of quests, PvP and the optional Throne of Hinnon dungeon. |
| Diamond Shores in Early Access | Most of the rest of the region opens beyond the demo's small playable portion. |
| Gylden Ruins in Early Access | A region added beyond the demo, with its own stories, bosses and dungeons. |
| Astron Plains in Early Access | Another region beyond the demo, also containing its own stories, bosses and dungeons. |
Across these regions, XLGAMES describes more than 60 areas, approximately 20 times the demo's explorable scope, and over 1,000 exploration and collection points. That expansion gives returning players more to plan around than repeating the demo's quest route. Pick a mix of story progress, discoveries and combat challenges for your adventure rather than treating every detour as something to save for later.
Build fresh progress through exploration
Your demo progress and save data will not carry into Early Access. Treat your time in the demo as practice when choosing your next character and approach. Plan to earn your progression again instead of building an itinerary around the character you left behind.
Character levels and weapon traits grow through different activities. Defeating monsters grants some EXP, but most comes from quests, discoveries and completing points of interest; leveling supplies stat points. Trait points come separately from Raeven's Coilstones, which sit near powerful bosses in the open world, hidden places or quest encounters.
Exploration also improves your survivability and equipment options. Bring Nui Tears to a Nui Statue to raise your maximum HP, and search for treasure chests that can contain gear and rare crafting recipes. Chests and other discovered objects can be opened once per character, so you do not need to race another player to claim them.
If a boss stops your progress, consider exploring elsewhere before trying again. Look for opportunities to develop your traits and improve your character while learning the fight's attacks. Returning with a clearer plan can be more useful than repeating the same unsuccessful approach.
Prepare for dungeons and open-world challenges
Early Access includes regional dungeons and raids. Dungeons are instanced for you or a party of up to four, allow solo play and share quest progress inside. The launch improvements also preserve dungeon and instance progress through disconnects across Early Access regions, while some previously solo-only dungeon sections can now be played in a party.
Throne of Hinnon was the demo's optional high-level dungeon, deliberately placed outside its normal quest progression. Use that experience to judge how you enjoy challenging encounters, while planning your new adventure around the broader regional dungeon offering. Leave room for open-world bosses too: they drop gear, accessories and crafting materials unavailable elsewhere.
Choose from the launch classes and weapons
The launch roster contains four classes with two weapons each, for eight weapons overall. You can swap between your class's weapons during combat, and every weapon type has its own trait tree. Try the available pair before deciding which weapon you want to build around.
| Class | Launch weapons and combat focus |
|---|---|
| Warrior: close-range sword combat | Longsword and Greatsword, with parries, counters and heavy melee strikes. |
| Ranger: melee and ranged combat | Hatchet and Longbow, combining fast close-range attacks with archery. |
| Mage: ranged magic and melee | Elemental Staff and Wavesword, combining ranged elemental magic with melee frost attacks. |
| Berserker: heavy melee combat | Axe with Shield and Warhammer, offering close-range pressure, defense and heavy attacks. |
Housing at launch and class additions later
Housing and trading are included among the announced Early Access activities, although neither was available in the public demo. Crafting, company activities and guild activities also appear in the Early Access offering. If those are your main interests, make room for them alongside exploration and dungeon play.
Additional class genders and third weapons belong to post-launch updates. The first December update is planned to introduce the female Warrior and the Warrior's Gladius, with further class options following gradually. XLGAMES aims to remove gender locks from every class by full release, so choose your launch character around the options available at the start.
Plan your first adventure
- Choose a launch class by its available weapons so your fresh character matches the combat style you want to learn.
- Follow quests and investigate points of interest to earn EXP while getting familiar with the expanded world.
- Seek out bosses guarding Raeven's Coilstones to earn trait points for your weapon trees.
- Bring collected Nui Tears to a Nui Statue to increase your maximum HP before tackling tougher encounters.
- Attempt a dungeon solo or with a party of up to four to test the character you have developed through exploration.
- Set aside time for housing, crafting or trading to explore the announced activities beyond the demo's combat and quest content.